Honorable Granddaughter
by HeartAuror
Summary: Shiori left her first life by way of debilitating disease, but now she's has a new life with a new family. Too bad she falls in love with her parents before she realizes that they are Konohamaru's parents and wont live long enough to name the boy. Oh well, at least she still has Jii-chan, her uncle Asuma-nii, and, when he's born, Konohamaru - to face it with. SI (Self-insert) OC
1. Chapter 1

**AN: New story. I'm terrible and haven't updated my other two stories in a while. A New Life will be updated soon, until then enjoy my latest project: Honorable Granddaughter.**

**Disclaimer: I only own Shiori... And I guess Konohamaru's parents too since they never show up in the anime/manga (I really should give them names). Anything you recognize belongs to Kishimoto**

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><p>Sometimes I think dying was the best thing that could have happened to me. For as long as I could remember I had frequent visits to the hospital for some disease that my dad had apparently died from. And for the last year of my life I lived in the hospital with tubes shoved down my throat so I could eat and breathe. I had tried to make friends while I was still in school but ALS is paralyzing so not only did I walk strangely but my tongue flopped in my mouth uselessly when I tried to talk.<p>

The only time I felt alive was those Saturday nights when I watched Naruto. The characters felt so mystical with all of their dreams so pure. Each of them had their own struggles yet they still looked back to pull their friends along. I envied their companionship that I never had and found myself asking my mother to buy me the manga because I wanted more. I lost myself in their world because is was so much better than where I was, where nothing was important.

When I was fifteen ALS won out and I found myself struggling with the intense desire to breathe but my lungs refused to work. Even with a tube forcing oxygen into my lungs I suffocated. I floated peacefully a darkness for a time before I found myself - finally - headed toward a light.

Birth was… strange. I didn't understand at first that I was a baby. I was stuck in the immediacy of everything being too bright, too loud, and too cold. Not only that, but even after they washed me and wrapped me in a blanket my skin itched as if thousands of spiders were crawling underneath it. The only way I could respond to the new stimuli was to cry, and I continued to cry until my body gave out and I slept.

When I woke up it was quieter and darker, but the itch remained. I tried to scratch at it but the blanket on top of me seemed impossibly heavy. I shifted around, but I only managed to tangle myself so uncomfortably that I began to cry again. When my mother came to sooth me she misunderstood and assumed I was hungry. As she brought me too her breast some instinct caused me latch onto it and it was then that I realized that I was an infant.

For the first few weeks I wasn't aware of much other than my hunger and the itching under my skin, but I gradually opened up my surroundings. I took it slowly because the world around me was still blurry and overwhelming but I at least memorized papa's and mama's faces. It was strangely easy for me to accept my new family, partially because I never had a father in my past life and my mother was always working trying to pay for the hospital fees. While I couldn't understand the language they spoke in their voices were still soothing. By the end of my first month I had almost forgotten the tingling beneath my skin.

Japanese was frustrating. My parents spoke to me often, mama more than papa, but I couldn't understand a word they said. As I became increasingly frustrated my baby side began to show more and I cried almost constantly. The only thing that began to make sense was the repeated word Shiori that my parents said when speaking to me and I reasoned that it must have been my name. I was proud of that simple accomplishment for a very short time before my vision began clearing up at a month old and I recognized the hitai-ate on my parents' forehead.

I loved Naruto in my past life and there were definitely times that I wished to live in that world, but once I realized I was actually in it i wasn't sure what to feel. Part of me was excited for the chance to fight alongside my past life's heroes but I couldn't help but wonder if I might die all over again. Eventually I decided to leave the important decisions for later. While my father did look somewhat familiar he was definitely not one of the main characters so I figured I couldn't be that important.

I discovered I couldn't have been more wrong when Jii-chan came to visit. I recognized the word tou-san papa was saying from the little Japanese I understood, but I wasn't that worried about it. Imagine my surprise when in walked the third hokage and papa introduced him to me as jii-chan. I was unable to keep my mouth closed as mama passed me into his arms, nor was I able to stop myself from exploring his face with my hands (though that could have been my baby side). Sarutobi Hiruzen, better known as the third hokage and god of shinobi, was my grandfather.

I turned back to my parents, forced to reevaluate them. Suddenly I realized why I recognized papa. While I had never seen him in the anime he bore a resemblance to his father and brother. I knew that my parents had to be Konohamaru's parents but knowing and believing aren't the same thing - not really. I loved mama and papa and I didn't want to lose them. Somehow, my brain forced me to forget about Konohamaru and my parents not being around in the anime.

Two weeks after Jii-chan's visit came one of the most terrifying experiences of both my lives. Even as an infant I could feel the horrifying killing intent of the Kyuubi. Part of me wanted scream and wail so mama and papa would rush to protect me, but another part reasoned that if I was too loud the beast could find me. The two sides of me warred against each other until they reached a compromise and I left out a pitiful whimper. I curled myself into the smallest ball i could as I cowered into one corner of my crib. At the time I didn't know where mama and papa were but now I suppose they must have been off fighting.

It wasn't until the paralyzing chakra was gone that I released an ear-shattering wail. Mama had come back and quickly gathered me into her arms and whispered calm words as she rocked me and I continued to scream. The danger was gone but the fear remained, demanding to be vented in some way.

The Kyuubi attack had awakened something in me. I never wanted to be so helpless ever again so I decided to try and learn to at least crawl. It was more difficult than I expected. In my first life I had been growing paralyzed and in my new one I only had the strength of a baby. The combined forces of being used to staying still and the effort it took to try made crawling something that definitely didn't come easy. Rolling over was fairly simple but the hard part was using my chubby infant legs and arms to push and pull me to where I wanted to go. Plus, I was limited to the times mama or papa let me out of my crib.

I wasn't necessarily great at multitasking but I at least managed to listen as I struggled with movement. Japanese was still foreign to me but I did manage to understand the meaning of basic sentences.

When I was around two and a half months I was crawling around pretty easily. I can remember mama and papa getting frustrated when, in my curiosity, I began climbing up to places I shouldn't have been like the kitchen counter when mama was cooking. Soon they had baby-proofed all the dangerous places and I was confined to mostly the living room. I had to content myself with entertaining myself with the toys I was given.

When I was around six months old I was relieved that I was finally eating solid foods. Baby instincts or not breastfeeding was _weird._ A few weeks later mama took me to the park. She set me down in the grass while she talked with another woman her age. It was then that I decided to try to start walking as a way to entertain myself. It didn't work as well as I hoped and when I found the ground closing in on me too quickly I instinctively called out, "mama!" Her shock was obvious, but like any good ninja she swept me off the ground before I even noticed. She said her goodbyes to whoever she had been talking to before whisking me home. I giggled as she promptly bragged to papa that I had said mama before papa.

Papa pouted at that and turned to me, "you love your papa don't you?"

"Papa papa!" I cheered while clapping my hands like a seal.

It was comical how he immediately lifted me up and spun me in a circle making both mama and me laugh.

My first birthday was the first time I had ever been surrounded by more than three people. Jii-chan arrived early with Asuma. He couldn't have been older than seventeen and papa told me to call him Asuma-nii. He looked so uncomfortable as papa passed me into his arms that I couldn't help but giggle which I think must have made him feel somewhat better because he didn't look quite as stiff.

As more of a crowd shuffled in I preferred to stay attached to Asuma. He walked me over to some kids my age but I continued to clutch to him. He furrowed his eyebrows, "don't you want to play with them?"

I shook my head, "I want to be with Asuma-nii."

He seemed surprised but took my hand, "c'mon then. I'll find something for us to do." I'm not sure if he actually liked me at the time or just decided to humor me because it was my birthday. We wandered around the house for a while greeting guests until it was time to open presents. Most of it seemed like what you would usually give to a one year old like books and clothes, but if you bothered to look closer you'd notice some of the books were instructions on how to fold your own paper shrunken or a guides on how to hold your own in a fight.

I set those books aside at the time, though I won't deny that I was interested, and focused instead on a children's tale about Tsunade. It was titled "The Slug Princess" and I could remember pointing out to papa a while back when he took me into town. I picked it up and tottled over to Asuma-nii, "read?" I asked simply.

He was sitting on the couch so he pulled me into his lap and began to read my new book. Originally I had planned to trace the kanji as he read in hopes of learning something but Asuma-nii's soothing voice lulled me to sleep.

I didn't wake up until the party was over and Asuma-nii was attempting to hand me off to papa. In my half-awake state I couldn't help but snuggle into Asuma-nii. When papa tried to pull me away from him I only clenched onto his shirt harder.

I heard papa chuckle, "who knew my otouto would be so good with kids."

"Nii-San." came Asuma's disgruntled reply.

Papa chuckled again, "Alright Shiori. Your oji-san has to go home now."

Without letting go I asked, "Does Asuma-nii really have to go?"

Jii-chan, who had been standing off to the side during the exchange, spoke up, "Sorry Shiori-chan. Asuma has a mission in the morning he has to prepare for."

I planted a sloppy kiss on Asuma's cheek and said, "Be safe." Before letting papa take me as he laughed at Asuma's stiff expression.

After Jii-chan left with Asuma papa looked at me. "Ne, Shiori, doesn't your papa get a kiss?"

"No." I teased and stuck my tongue out at him."

He quirked an eyebrow, "Oh? Is that how it's gonna be?"

"Yes." I said.

"Alright then. Let's see how you like this!" He challenged and began to tickle me.

"N-no papa!" I squealed. "I-I'll give you a k-kiss!"

"It's too late now!" He teased and continued to tickle me until I managed to squirm out of his arms and hide behind mama.

Mama hoisted me into her arms. "What's wrong, Shiori?"

"Papa's being mean to meee!" I whined.

I noticed a dangerous glint in her eye, "Oh is he now? Well, let's get him back then shall we?"

We spent the rest of my birthday chasing papa until I was so exhausted I had to sleep.

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><p><strong>AN: So, what did you guys think? Drop a review to let me know :)<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Not gonna lie, I was hoping to get this out a lot sooner. It feels like it's been forever, and it's not as long as I wanted to be. Anyway, I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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><p>The day after my birthday both mama and papa were dressed in standard Konoha jounin gear. "Why are mama and papa dressed funny?" I asked.<p>

Papa ruffled my hair, "We're going to be taking up missions again now that you're a whole year old!"

"Why?" I asked again.

Mama crouched down so she was at eye-level with me. "Mama and papa are important to the village. And mama wants her own genin team so she has to work hard."

"But I don't want mama and papa to go." I protested. "I don't want to be all alone!" I really didn't want to be alone. Alone was too much like the hospital where nobody visited me, and my mother only came occasionally and she always looked so tired. Alone was definitely bad.

Mama smiled at me "You wont be alone. Genin teams will take care of you everyday. And mama and papa will always come back, okay?"

"Okay." I said, even though I still wanted her to stay."

Mama hugged me, "Good girl. And it looks like the genin are here. Don't get into too much trouble, ne?"

"Bye bye mama." I said and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Then I tugged on papa's pants until he crouched down, too so I could give him a kiss. "Bye bye papa."

When the genin walked in I was surprised to see a young Iruka along with Mizuki and Yugao. I never expected the three of them to be on the same team. I guess Iruka and Mizuki wasn't that odd, but for some reason, probably because she was ANBU, I thought Yugao would be older. I didn't recognize the jounin teacher, who introduced himself as Mimura Hamaki.

I avoided Mizuki because I already knew what he would turn into and I gravitated toward Iruka. I grabbed a book off my shelf, The Slug Princess again because I didn't hear the whole thing before falling asleep the previous day, and held it up to him. "Will you read to me?"

He smiled at me. "Of course." Unlike with Asuma it was easy to stay up while Iruka read and I carefully studied each kanji as he read them. (Well, at least the kanji I thought he was reading at the time. With no idea what they meant it was hard to tell.) After he was done with the first book I grabbed another and another until Yugao announced that she had made lunch and we should all come to eat.

Mizuki made a move to pick me up, but I immediately dashed away from him and hid behind Iruka who gave me a strange look before shrugging it off and putting me in the highchair himself. Yugao served me my food in little small bits and I carefully picked them up and guided them to my mouth. While I ate I also listened to what the genins were talking about.

"Why'd we get stuck baby-sitting the kid?" Mizuki asked with a scowl.

"She's not that bad Mizuki. She's actually pretty cute." Iruka told his (evil) teammate.

Mizuki scoffed, "we may as well not call ourselves ninja."

Yugao hit him, "She can hear you, idiot."

Mizuki rubbed his head and said loudly, "Like I care what some baby thinks of me." I was getting tired of being insulted so, with surprising accuracy, I threw a blob of food at Mizuki's face. He spluttered and stood up, "What the hell!"

"Mizuki!" The jounin instructor finally spoke up. "Watch your language in front of the hokage's granddaughter!"

Mizuki slumped back into his seat, "Whatever."

After lunch, having grown tired of being read to, decided that I wanted to start making paper shuriken. First I grabbed the book with instructions and set it on the table. Then I grabbed paper and set it on the table. I climbed onto a chair and used it as a stool so I could work at the table. At only a year old I had little dexterity in my fingers, and without being able to read I had to rely on only the picture which was frustrating. I messed up several times before I got even one decent shuriken made and that didn't happen until Iruka gave me some pointers.

By the time papa came home I had thirteen usable shuriken and at least four times that many scrapped. I couldn't wait to show off my new weapons but papa talked to the jounin first. "Hamaki, so it was your genin team with the fortune to get the mission, huh? So how'd it go?"

"Well, there was a little incident with Mizuki but he started it so I wouldn't worry. All in all she's a bright girl' like her father." then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "pretty as her mother, too."

"Oi, she's my wife now. Don't go getting any funny ideas."

Hamaki chuckled, "Just keeping you on your toes, Rikuto."

Papa glared halfheartedly at him, but he was soon bidding his friend a pleasant goodbye. That was when I finally came in and threw my new shuriken at him. "Got you!" I shouted with a childish giggle.

Papa mock gasped and fell to his knees. "Tell mama that I love her." He said before dramatically falling to the ground.

I rushed over and stood on top of papa's back. "I'm the best ninja ever!" I announced. Then I got off of papa and stood at his head. I touched his head, "heal jutsu!"

Papa sat up and chuckled, "somebody knows what they're doing."

I grinned, "Iruka read my book. It was about a princess! She healed everyone!" I stretched my arms as wide as I could when I said the last word.

"Oh? Do you want to heal everyone like Tsunade?"

I nodded my head enthusiastically, "yeah, but I also want to beat up all the bad guys!" Papa opened his mouth to speak, but just then mama walked in so I rushed past him. "Mama! Today, I killed papa!"

"You killed him?" She glanced over to see papa smiling at her before sweeping me into her arms. "And how did you do that?"

"I threw the shuriken at him. But he's okay now mama because I used heal jutsu like a princess."

"Wow." Mama said, "you must be really strong to take out papa. And really nice to heal him, too."

"Yeah!" I cheered. "I'm the best ninja ever!"

Papa smirked and walked over to mama and me, "okay best ninja ever, what happened with Mizuki today?"

"I threw food at him." I sniffed.

"Now why would you do that?" Mama asked.

"He called me a baby."

"Oh, well we can't be having that." Papa said. "You're not a baby. You're a whole one year old!"

"That's right." I said, not catching the sarcasm. I blushed in embarrassment when mama and papa started laughing. "I'm not a baby! I can almost read!"

"Shiori," my mother said gently. "We don't throw food at people just because they call you names. Be the better person so he looks like a baby."

"Okay." I said quietly.

"Good!" Chirped mama. "Then let's have dinner."

While mama made food papa and I cleaned up my paper mess from my shuriken. Then we all sat down to eat. "Itadakimasu!" We chorused.

"So papa, how was your mission?" Mama asked.

He shrugged, "simple enough. Tou-san sent me to take care of a C-rank nuke-nin to ease me back into missions."

"Mnn," mama hummed. "Me too."

"What's a nuke-nin?" I asked curiously. I had mostly watched the dub so the Japanese terms were still foreign to me.

Papa glanced at mama who spoke up to explain, "When a ninja leaves their village they are considered rogue and have to be hunted down to keep everyone safe."

I scrunched up my face trying to decipher the harder words before I said, "ohhhh, okay!"

Mama was silent for a moment before saying, "okay, time for bed." She helped me out of my highchair and carried me off to my room. After I was in my pajamas and tucked into bed mama and papa both kissed me on the forehead and said, "see you in the morning."

Morning came much earlier than I expected as papa woke me up before the sun had risen. "Wha's going on papa?" I asked through a yawn.

He grinned at me, "well you're going to be the best ninja ever, right? What do you say to your papa teaching you a thing or two?"

"Really!" I shouted and papa winced.

"Shhh, mama's still sleeping."

"Sorry." I said in a more subdued tone. "But you're really really gonna teach me?"

Papa nodded. "Just simple stuff today. I'll teach you some stretches for your muscles and poses to and improve your balance."

I'll admit, at first I was disappointed that we weren't going to do anything really 'ninja-like' but I grew to appreciate the difficulty of the stretches papa was teaching me as my muscles burned.

The poses, which reminded me of yoga, were even more difficult. Children of my age hardly ever had good balance to begin with, and papa - good-naturedly I suppose - thought it would be funny to push me over and watch me topple to the ground.

I glared at him while he laughed. "Not funny, papa." I grumbled as I shifted into the pose again. It took me less than five seconds to lose my balance and fall on my own, much to papa's amusement.

That was when mama walked in looking very menacing in her pajamas. "Very encouraging Rikuto. I thought we agreed I would teach her when she turned two."

"Er, yeah, that's what we said." Papa said trying to appease my glaring mama. "But, well, she seemed so eager to get started that I wanted to give her a head start."

"Right." Mama said, tapping her foot. "And you didn't tell me because…"

"Uh, surprise?" Papa said weakly.

Mama sighed, "if you think Shiori's ready then I'll teach her." She walked over and crouched in front of me, "what do you think Shiori? I won't go easy on you."

"I'm ready." I said firmly though the intensity was marred a bit by childish voice.

Mama smiled, "good, I'll give you some homework for while I'm gone on my mission then: learn hiragana."

"Hiragana?" I questioned.

Mama grabbed my instructions for creating shuriken. "These ones." She said, pointing to some of the symbols. "Just ask one of the genin or their jounin commander to help."

Mama and papa left as soon as the genin team arrived, but this time I didn't recognize any of them. I tottled over to the genin who seemed the friendliest, a girl with long brown hair, and asked her if she could teach me the hiragana.

She smiled sweetly at me, "aren't you a little young."

I shook my head, "mama told me to learn them before she got back."

Her eyes widened at the complex sentence, for a one year old, and spoke up, "well, if you're sure."

I nodded my head enthusiastically and we both went the couch. Hiragana was a lot like learning the alphabet. Which makes sense is suppose because it _was_ an alphabet. The genin, her name was Risa, seemed impressed by how quickly I picked it up so she decided that once I could recognize the hiragana I could move right into trying to write them. Which was considerably more difficult with my fat, one-year-old hands.

By the time mama came home I was reading at a decent pace (it is so easy to sound things out in Japanese!) and I could write the first five hiragana: 'a', 'i', 'u', 'e', and 'o'. Mama also seemed pleasantly surprised with my progress. "I wasn't expecting you to progress this quickly. I guess I'll have to alter my plans a bit." She mused out loud. "In any case, while I'm home we'll work on the poses that papa taught you."

Mama taught the poses a lot different from papa. While papa liked to let me make mistakes and learn from them (while laughing and teasing me the whole time), mama was strict. Whenever my pose was off by the slightest bit she barked at me to correct it. "To avoid bad habits." She said. Unlike learning the alphabet it was a lot harder to measure my progress in the physical field. We could only go so far due to my age and I had no way to test how well I did.

I liked learning with mama, but I enjoyed the times when papa would come home and sneak in a little extra training. Mama hadn't lied when she said she wouldn't go easy on me and papa always came just in time before the pressure got to me.

Sometimes jii-chan and Asuma-nii would come to visit and I showed off how much better I had gotten at reading. Sometimes, when I got lucky, instead of genin coming to babysit Asuma-nii would come instead. Despite mama scolding me that I still had to do homework when he came over I spent most of my days with walking through Konoha. Somehow, though it was only supposed to be a pleasant stroll through town, we always ended up at the toy store. I loved running up and down the aisles before I picked a toy.

"Asuma-nii! I want this bunny!"

"Another one?" He asked incredulously.

I nodded emphatically, "Pleeaase? It's so fluffy!"

He smiled, "Alright, alright, I'll get it for you."

I clutched it close to me the entire way home.

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, so I'm going to use this space to spaz over reviews.<strong>

**First up: Tachzaruu: I'm glad you like it :) I'm really trying to work on fleshing out her personality, when I originally wrote the first chapter of the story I just sort of flew by her baby years so this is actually like a second draft with a lot more detail than I had originally.**

**The Fool Arcana: Normally I would just answer in PM but for the others who are curious/confused, Shiori is the same age as the rookie nine. The Kyuubi attack happens when she about two months old so she's two months older than Naruto. She will, of course be meeting others her age, but I'm taking my time getting there. Anyway, thanks for your review, it really inspired to push through and get this chapter out, even if it isn't quite matching the quality I wanted for it.**

**As always: Please review because they really inspire me to keep working :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Yay! A faster update. Just a quick headsup, I had to write this on my tablet so the editing might not be super awesome because my laptop won't turn on D:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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><p>I learned a lot with mama and the genin that came over to babysit. I was proud of how fast I had learned hiragana. The problem was, most books didn't have that much hiragana.<p>

"Iruka-nii, what do these mean?" I asked as I stumbled upon kanji that didn't have furigana (little hiragana/katakana written over kanji).

He smiled at me, "This one," he said pointing the first one, "means before. And this one means student. But together they mean sensei."

I scowled. It didn't make sense to me that kanji meant so many different things. I put the book down. "I give up. Will you play ninja with me?"

"Sure. Do you want to make shuriken first?"

"Yeah!" I cheered and ran to get the book. I had gotten much better at making the paper shuriken with practice, and I had fun doing it, too. As we went to work on folding the paper Yugao came in and glared at us.

"Lunch will be ready soon. Where am I supposed to put it?"

"Sorry, Yugao-nee." I carefully took my completed shuriken to the living room. "Let's go play now, Iruka-nii."

"Don't you think we should invite Mizuki?" He asked.

"No!" I shouted.

"Why not?" Iruka asked. "You know, he's really good with shuriken."

"I don't want to." I said firmly while crossing my arms.

Mizuki walked into the room right at that moment, "Like I care what some little brat thinks of me anyway."

"Mizuki…" Iruka chastised. "It's because you say things like that that she doesn't like you."

"Whatever."

"Iruka-nii!" I whined. "Let's go play!"

He smiled, "Alright, let's go outside."

Our game of ninja was mostly a game of tag, but instead of touching each other we had to hit each other with the shuriken instead. Iruka was clearly going easy on me because he spent just as much time being 'it' as I did, but in a way it made it more fun.

Our game only ended when Yugao called us in for dinner. Hamaki-sensei looked at me, "So, Shiori, I've heard you can read already. That's pretty amazing."

I grinned at him, "Yeah! I'm gonna be the best ninja ever!"

He nodded, "So I've heard. Can you write yet?"

I scrunched my face up, "A little." It was over half a year since I first starting learning, and I could write most of the hiragana and some katakana, but I often wrote things like 'ku' 'shi' and 'tsu' backwards. Reading was easier. It was easier to recognize what a character was than to try to pull the memory from the top of my head to write it.

He chuckled, "Not bad. 'Specially not for a little thing like you."

"I'm not that little!" I protested prompting him to laugh again.

Only mama came home that day. Papa was slowly easing into taking longer missions. Mama said he'd probably be gone for a week.

"Ne, mama?" I spoke while we were doing our stretches.

"What is it, Shiori?"

"When can I use chakra?"

Mama's eyes widened and her stance wobbled ever so slightly. "You're too young for that."

"Why?"

She straightened out of her pose, "Because that is something for older people to do. I promise I'll teach you when you're ready, okay?"

"Okay." I mumbled.

She sighed, "What do you say we go to the book store? It's been a while since you got anything new."

"Okay!" I chirped, deciding to not to mention that Asuma had gotten me another stuffed animal the week before.

Like always, I stalked down the aisles inspecting everything. Then something popped out to me. "Mama! Isn't this our name!"

Mama looked at the book. "Sarutobi Hiruzen. That's your jii-chan."

I grinned, "Can we get it?"

"Sure." Mama said and she went to the counter to pay for it.

The minute we got home I snuggled into mama on the couch and began to read. Luckily for me children's books were written mostly with hiragana and the few kanji had furigana so I rarely had to ask mama for help. Although, sometimes, when I wasn't sure of the meaning of a word, I referred to her like a dictionary.

"Mama! Jii-chan trained the princess!"

Mama chuckled, "he sure did."

I looked back at my book, "He also taught Ji-ra-i-ya and O-ro-chi-ma-ru. Are they princes mama?"

"No," she said with a laugh. "But they're both very powerful ninja."

I nodded and continued to read. I always found it strange that childrens' books in this world were rarely fiction, but instead focused on the lives of famous ninja. I also had one about Minata: the yellow Flash. And more on ninja that I hadn't heard of until I was reborn here.

Papa came home at the end of the week with a casual grin on his face. "Papa!" I squealed and jumped into his arms.

"I missed you too, Shiori." He said and shifted me to the side so he could give mama a kiss.

I was happy getting tucked in that night because it had been so long since I got a kiss on the forehead from papa. Maybe because of the excitement of him returning but I purposely stayed awake so I could listen to him talk to mama in the next room.

"How was the mission?" I heard mama' voice.

"It was border patrol." He replied. "How were you and Shiori?"

She was quiet for a moment. "She asked about using chakra a few days ago."

I smiled as papa laughed, "she's a smart one our Shiori."

"Rikuto." Mama's voice confused me. It sounded almost... Worried? I wasn't sure how to describe it. Partially because I didn't understand why she would be worried. "We're lucky the war's over. If not who know what would happen to her. Even now..."

She trailed off and I could faintly hear papa shushing her. "It's fine, Tomiko. Everything is fine." He consoled.

I frowned and snuggled into my blankets, thinking over what I heard until I drifted to sleep.

I didn't understand what mama was so scared of. It took me long enough to come to terms with the fact that that was what she was: _scared. _But I knew that I didn't like mama being scared so I would fix it. That morning I bade mama and papa a good mission as always with a kiss on each of their cheeks. Then, once they were gone, I began _my_ mission. I stomped through the living room kicking my toys this way and that while giggling like hyena.

"Shi-Shiori!" The genin were surprised. It was Risa's team; they had babysat me numerous times and were surprised to see me act so... Childish.

"Fun!" I shrieked in the highest pitch voice I could muster (which actually hurt my ears a bit) and the genin cringed.

They tried to calm me down, but I continued to wreak havoc until I had worn myself out to the point where I fell asleep in the pile of toys I had created.

I awoke to a rumbling in my stomach so I curiously went to the kitchen when another idea struck me. Mama had long since taken down most of the babyproofing once I had proved to be more careful of my surroundings. That didn't mean I couldn't have a sudden relapse. One of the boys in Risa's team, Junpei, was making lunch, so I snuck easily into the kitchen and began reaching for the handle of the pan on the stove.

I was quickly swept away by Junpei, "what's gotten into you?"

I flailed futilely in his arms "Hungry!" I screeched.

"I think it's nap time." He grunted as he walked over and set me in my crib.

I kicked my legs and whined, "Hungry!" It was harder than I thought, trying to keep to one word at a time. To feign stupidity.

"It's like she's a different person." The other boy, Kyosuke, remarked as he walked into the room. He yawned loudly, "she was so easy before."

I heard a faint smack, but I wasn't sure who delivered it. Both Risa and Junpei had taken to hitting their Nara teammate to scold him for laziness, and I was too busy with my temper-tantrum to see who it was this time.

"What if she's sick?" I heard Risa say. "Do you think we should tell the hokage, sensei?"

I ceased my crying to watch how said sensei would respond. "I wouldn't worry just yet." He said. "We'll simply tell her parents when they return."

When lunch was served I continued my plans to seem like a normal one-year-old girl. I played in my food giggling as it plopped on the floor (which, I have to admit, _was_ kind of amusing).

I finally understood why babies slept so long. I was exhausted trying to keep up this silly act on my first day, and they did it 24/7. I nearly gave up on it when mama and papa came home before reminding myself that easing mama's worries were the whole point.

I did childish things like chewing on papa's blue scarf (although I couldn't will myself to attempt to eat things I found on the ground). Mama and Papa easily recognized that something was wrong as I continued to freak out at the tiniest of provocations.

"Shiori," mama said with a warning tone. "I don't know why you're acting this way but we both know it's on purpose."

I sniffled, "s-scared."

Papa crouched down and furrowed his eyebrows, "scared?"

I nodded, "I h-heard last night. Mama w-was scared."

Mama smiled a little, "what do you mean I was scared, Shiori?"

"L-last night mama said w-war and me and..." I couldn't help but burst into actual tears. "I didn't mean to scare mama!"

"Oh Shiori." Mama gasped and gathered me into her arms. She began petting my hair, "you didn't scare me. Mama just had a lot to think about."

I continued to sniffle with tears leaking out as I mumbled, "was it 'cause I asked about chakra?"

"No, Shiori. You just got confused." She pulled me away from her body so I could see her smile. "You were tired and misunderstood what mama and papa were saying." Mama planted a kiss on my forehead then. "You're perfect just the way you are."

I snuggled back into her, but I was no longer crying. "I love you, mama."

"I love you too, Shiori.'

I woke to light streaming through my bedroom window. I must have fallen asleep to the sound of mama's comforting murmurs in my ear. Despite still being dressed in my clothes from the day before, I didn't bother to change before leaving the room.

My eyes widened to see papa at the stove wearing casual clothes. He smiled at me, "good morning Shiori."

"Papa!" I chirped. "Your clothes..."

He chuckled, "mama still had to take mission, but what do you say about spending the day with me, ne?"

I dashed over to him and wrapped my arms around his leg. "Thank you papa."

It had been a while since I had a day with papa, and he told me mama's mission would last a few days so we should make the most of it. We walked throughout the village and we stopped at the dango shop for sweets. All in all it was a peaceful day with papa.

Before I knew it my second birthday was coming up. Papa and mama threw another party, but this time there were even more kids my age, including the Ino-Shika-Cho trio of Naruto's-_my-_generation. At first, I had spent most of the party with Asuma-nii, like last time, but mama convinced me to spend some time with the children.

I wandered toward Shikamaru; he had always been one of my favorite characters. Unsurprisingly, he looked like he was about to fall asleep. I wasn't sure what to do to entertain myself with him. At his age I knew he would smart but I didn't know what the lazy boy might actually feel like doing.

He looked at me and yawned widely, "wanna go cloud watching."

I smiled at him gratefully. Whether or not he sensed my uncertainty or he just wanted to go cloud watching without getting in trouble for ignoring the birthday I girl I didn't know nor care. I only grabbed his arm and dragged him outside.

He was silent, as always, but I was quick to point out the shapes I saw in the clouds. I giggled as I said, "and that one looks like a marshmallow monster eating an apple!"

"Yeah." He agreed lazily.

Our cloud watching was interrupted by papa sneaking up behind us and tickling me. I screeched, Shikamaru might have winced at the noise, but I wasn't sure.

When papa finally stopped tickling me he said, "time to open presents Shiori."

This time as I opened my presents I noticed the hints that we were in a shinobi world weren't so cleverly hidden. I had received things like rubber kunai and a book about "appropriate clothes for a shinobi".

After my birthday mama announced that she finally got a genin team. She had been excited about getting her genin team for quite a while so papa and I were happy for her. I didn't recognize any of the three when she introduced them to us but they seemed nice enough.

With a genin team mama actually sent more time at home than I would have expected because she was doing mostly D-rank missions. Plus she would sometimes continue in what she was teaching me while she taught her genins.

I had grown close to one of the boys, Manabu. He didn't treat me like a fragile little girl that would break if I tried anything too complicated. Unlike the others he _encouraged _me to push myself. It was also with him that I first started learning about chakra, but we kept that secret from mama.

Once, while I was with them while they trained, he plopped down beside me and nudged my side. "Ne, who do you think Haru is picking those flowers for?"

I looked toward his male teammate and grinned, "for Kana-chan, probably."

Manabu nodded, "can't wait to see what sensei has to say about him slacking. Speaking of..." He stood up and brushed his pants off. "I should get back to work myself." I waved him goodbye before beginning stretches of my own.

I loved those days more than anything: when mama was a genin sensei and I spent my days with a genuine smile on my face. But they went by so fast. It wasn't long after my third birthday when Manabu was promoted to chunin. I didn't mind it. In fact, I loved it when he would come over and tell me his adventures as a team commander. But it was the first of many changes.

When I was nearly four papa got a mission that he told me he would rush back from to see me on my birthday. I never saw him again. His name was carved on the memorial stone and all mama and me got was his blue scarf. Then mama got sick right before learning she was pregnant. I didn't smile much after that, and I spent most of my days in the hospital while mama's belly expanded but everything else about her grew thinner.

Jii-chan did his best to get me out of the hospital and distract me from mama but it rarely worked. Eventually, when I figured he must have given up, he asked Asuma for help. He didn't do much better. Instead of dragging me away from the hospital he would pull out a shogi board and we played for hours until I was so tired that I fell asleep and he carried me home.

As mama's condition worsened she began to forget who I was. She would smile at me sometimes and I thought she recognized me but she only said, "aren't you nice girl to visit a stranger? Where are your parents?"

I had to do my best not to cry then. "My mama's in the hospital." I would say, my voice breaking every time.

"You should spend time with her."

That was when my tears always began leaking out. "I am." I would whisper, but by then her eyes were usually glazed over thinking about other things.

I had heard the med-nins saying that she might have gotten better if her body wasn't trying to care for the baby growing inside of her. Apparently, when someone is pregnant, their body always cares for the unborn baby first. I had burst into her room _begging _for her to care for herself and abort the baby.

"This baby is Rikuto's!" She snapped. "I will not let it go!" I flinched back. She had never used such a harsh tone with me before and began sobbing on the ground, but she ignored me. I was losing mama, wondering what about _me? _Wasn't _I_ papa's baby? I heard her mutter over and over, "this baby is all I have left." Over and over I would visit my mother hoping she would get better when she only got worse.

I remember when Konohamaru was born. Jii-chan asked me what we should call my little brother and I had said, "it doesn't matter." Somehow I blamed him, an innocent baby, for mama dying because mama hadn't survived childbirth when he did.

Mama didn't get her name on the stone. She had done so much for the village but she hasn't died for it, so she only got a grave. I went to her funeral and I mourned while silently accepting the condolences of the adults around.

For a month I retreated I to a shell I didn't know I had before I finally worked up the courage to see the boy that I believed killed mama. I peered over his crib ready to hate the boy... But I didn't. I looked at the boy who was crying in his crib with no mother to comfort him like I used to have. Part of me wondered if he was also mourning for the loss of mama, even though I knew it wasn't possible. So instead of being angry I lifted him gently, rocking him back on forth in my arms. "It'll be alright Konohamaru." I murmured softly. "I'm here. I'm here." He calmed down nearly instantly and I smiled at the peaceful look on his face. "It's alright." I murmured one more time, but this time for myself.

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><p><strong>AN: So, yeah, this chapter got kind of sad. But hey, mama finally got a name XD<strong>

**On to the Reviews :D**

**Kotama: I'm glad you liked the way I portrayed learning the alphabet. I based it on my own experience with learning hiragana actually :)**

**Tachzaruu: Glad, I was able to pace it out for you. This one might feel a bit rushed at the end, but I think we all would have eventually gotten bored of little Shiori, and pretty much everything important is there. Plus I might have some flashbacks later ;) **

**The Almighty Pyro: She's certainly not quiet, huh? She's a loud little one :) **

**I'm glad you all have enjoyed it and I hope you keep reviewing :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hooray for a new chapter! I wanted to get this one out as quickly as possible because I won't have any time to write this weekend (My family's coming over). Anyways, I hope you like it :)**

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><p>With both our parents dead Konohamaru and I lived with Jii-chan. It was difficult at first, to integrate myself back into the world. Part of me was always thinking about how much easier it would be if I had remained in my catatonic state, but I also knew I couldn't go back to that me. I had been that person for too long as it was and the world wouldn't wait for me forever.<p>

"Honorable Granddaughter!" I flinched at the obnoxious voice of Ebisu-sensei. I could vaguely remember being introduced to him by jii-chan. supposedly he would be my personal trainer, but looking back on it now he wasn't any more than a glorified babysitter. Jii-chan spent a lot of his nights in the office, and since D-ranks never lasted overnight he needed a valid reason to raise the mission rank. Training and protecting the Hokage's grandchildren was a good enough excuse for hiring a jounin.

"Good morning." I greeted Ebisu.

He pushed his sunglasses up his nose, "it is good that you have gotten up this morning, honorable granddaughter. The path to becoming the 'best ninja ever' starts early."

I bit my lip to keep from shouting at him. Jii-chan must have told him my goal, but I didn't like it when Ebisu said it. From mama, papa, Asuma-nii, even Manabu it was okay. But not from him. Mama was supposed to teach me. She had promised.

"First, though, eat your breakfast." Luckily Ebisu-sensei broke me from my thoughts with an omelette and sausage. I ate slowly, and afterwards I felt much calmer.

Upon Ebisu's request I showed him what mama and Manabu taught me. The stretches were easiest because I had been doing them the longest. After that I threw kunai at a target on a tree. I wasn't especially in that area, but I was proud that I was at least able to throw the kunai well enough to hit the target at all. I finished my demonstration with the only chakra control exercise Manabu had taught me: sticking a leaf to my forehead. It was the easiest of all the chakra control exercises I knew and I only barely managed after my month without practice.

Still, Ebisu seemed impressed. He continued with the training mama gave and added some of his own in the way of scrolls. "There is more to a ninja than brute strength." He said. "You must be able to outwit your enemies." Which I suppose is true, but I doubted 'calculating the angle of a kunai' was going to help me outwit anybody.

Ebisu helped my grief in his own way, by not giving me the same pitying looks like everyone else I knew, but he wasn't family. I needed family, and Konohamaru didn't really count yet. I had hoped to spend time with jii-chan, but he was too busy with his hokage duties. The only person left was Asuma-nii and he was grieving in his own way. He had been having fights with jii-chan so he didn't come over often. Instead I often went to his house on my own, much to Ebisu-sensei's displeasure.

Mostly we played shogi. As always, I was the one who started conversation, "ne, Asuma-nii did you ever play shogi with papa?"

He smiled, "yeah, and I lost every time."

I laughed, "no way! Papa can't sit still that long."

He started to grin, "No it's true. He even beat your mother."

I gasped, "Liar!"

"Your mother was a terrible shogi player." He scratched at his goatee, "You play much more like your papa." He said before finally making a move.

I squinted at the board, "not good enough." I stared for a second longer, "I'm toast no matter what I do." I finally admitted.

He laughed, "wanna play another game?"

"Yeah, but if I win you have to take me to the park and push me on the swing!" I challenged.

"You're on."

Half an hour later I moved my last piece and proudly declared, "Checkmate!"

"You purposely lost before, huh?"

I shook my head fervently but still grinned, "You just played badly this time Asuma-nii. I thought you were going easy on me."

He crossed his arms and sighed, "Good job, Shiori."

I stood up quickly and tugged on his arm, "c'mon, you promised to take me to the park!"

"Alright alright, let's go."

I ran ahead of Asuma-nii the whole time so it felt like he was going at a snail's pace. When we got to the park I went straight to the swings, "push me!" I squealed.

He pushed me half-heartedly until I got frustrated and started to pump my legs and he gave up trying to keep up. I revelled in the wind flowing through my hair until I spotted Shikamaru. I jumped off the swing and landed less than gracefully on the ground and ran to him. "Shikamaru." I greeted. "I saw a really cool cloud the other day! It looked like a monkey hanging from a tree!"

He snorted "Saru, huh?" He yawned widely, "kaa-san told me I needed exercise and kicked me out of the house. Wanna go on a walk."

I nodded, "just let me tell Asuma-nii."

I did as I said I would then rushed back Shikamaru. We wandered aimlessly for a little while before coming across a group of kids, "oi, Shiori, Shikamaru, wanna play ninja?"

I glanced to Shikamaru who shrugged. "Sure!" I answered for the both of us.

The game was about to start when we heard, "wait!" All of us turned to see Chouji running toward us.

One of the kids scoffed, "we're not going to play with you Chouji."

"You're not?" My heart broke hearing the disappointment in his voice.

"But the teams will be uneven." Shikamaru spoke up. "Shogi is fun because both sides have the same number of pieces."

"Yeah, well, a useless piece is just the same as having no piece. Chouji's team always loses." the kid who had told Chouji he couldn't play said. "We'll be the ones missing a member so don't complain."

"If you're okay with it..." A boy from our team said uncertainly.

The boy from the other team grinned, "Yeah, now let's play."

The kids around us chattered, but Shikamaru and I were more focused on the retreating Chouji. "This is too troublesome." Shikamaru muttered to me after watching Chouji free a butterfly from a web. "I'm gonna leave. You keep playing."

I watched him leave a moment before announcing, "Hey, if you guys wanna play unevenly then I guess you don't mind me leaving!" I stuck my tongue out before trailing behind Shikamaru.

"You didn't have to do that." Shikamaru said once I caught up to him.

I shrugged, "they were jerks. Besides, you know it's too quiet without me."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered and I grinned.

I followed him and we eventually began climbing a staircase to his favorite rooftop. I'd only been there with him once before: on the day he declared it the best place to watch clouds. "Oh, it's you." Shikamaru drawled as be looked at Chouji.

"You're that boy from earlier." He said in the quietest voice I ever heard. "And a girl."

"I'm Nara Shikamaru. And this troublesome girl that followed me is Sarutobi Shiori."

I smiled and wiggled my fingers. "Hiya."

Shikamaru nodded in my direction, "by the way, you're in my special seat."

"Huh?" Chouji questioned.

I snickered, "this guy's a weirdo and has a reserved place to watch the clouds."

"Troublesome woman." Shikamaru mumbled. "So do you."

I blushed, "only 'cause you do!"

Chouji began to smile, but it faltered. "You can sit here if you want." He stood up, "I'll just go."

Shikamaru made a strange face, "What are you talking about? Just move over a bit." While Shikamaru and Chouji sat on the bench I plopped down on the ground In front of them and used the bench as a backrest. "What's your name anyway?" Shikamaru asked.

"The Akimichi's clan's Akimichi Chouji!" I couldn't see his face, but I was sure Chouji was smiling.

"Ne, Chouji that cloud looks like a butterfly." I said, pointing.

"Wow! You're right!" A second later I heard a crackling noise. "I brought snacks. Did you guys want some?"

I grabbed a few chips from the bag offered to me, "thanks."

"Watching clouds and eating chips." Shikamaru mused. "What could be better than this?"

"Yeah." Chouji and I agreed at the same time.

I gasped, "Look! That one looks like a dragon!"

I hadn't expected to be present when Shikamaru met Chouji, and part of me told me to become scarce so I wouldn't affect what would become one of the best relationships in the series. But I couldn't see how anyone could become a burden to a friendship that strong so I didn't, nor did I regret my decision. I went home that day with the beginnings of one of the best friendships that I would know.

Konohamaru grew quickly. Within months he was too big for my almost-five-year-old muscles to hold him. That didn't stop me from spending time with him though. Upon my request Ebisu-sensei would take Konohamaru out of his crib and place him on the ground. After I was sure Ebisu was gone I began to babble to my little brother.

I didn't know if my five month old little brother could understand me and I suppose it didn't matter. He was just somebody who would listen to me and I didn't have to worry about his pity or any other emotion someone might feel. He was still an outsider to my situation but talking to him made me feel like we were closer.

"You know, Konohamaru, I don't think Ebisu-sensei is really that good at teaching." I ignored his nonsensical response and continued, "Mama was a great teacher. Strict but... Good. I think you would've liked her, you know."

I laughed at the gurgling noises Konohamaru made. "You're more like papa though aren't you? All play and no work." I grabbed hold of his tiny little foot and began tickling them.

He squirmed and made more gurgling noises until Ebisu-sensei walked in. "Honorable granddaughter. To rise early one must also rest early."

I sighed, understanding his roundabout way of telling me it was bedtime. "Yes, Ebisu-sensei." I drawled out before giving Konohamaru a quick peck on the forehead and getting ready for bed.

Each morning, after my exercises, I was buried in scrolls Ebisu-sensei instructed me to read. Most days I snuck away so I wouldn't have to memorize the shinobi iron rules, but Ebisu had caught on to what I was doing and was watching me like a hawk. The image was marred by the giggling baby in his arms, but it kept me from running off all the same.

My fifth birthday was... Different. It was my first birthday without either of my parents. It was also the first time since my parents died that I saw Asuma-nii and Jii-chan in the same place and the atmosphere was tense. Asuma-nii glared at Jii-chan throughout the party, but Jii-chan simply ignored that he was even there. I didn't know what was going on and I was worried Asuma-nii would start a fight.

I stuck close to Shikamaru and Chouji throughout to keep myself calm. Shikamaru's laid back attitude was helpful because it put me at ease. Chouji helped differently. He was able to sense my discomfort and managed to distract me by having a rambling conversation. "Tou-san was telling me I'm going to have to get my ears pierced."

My eyebrows raised, "why?"

He made a strange face, "something about whispering in my ear."

"My tou-san said the same thing." Shikamaru drawled.

I giggled and touched my ear, "maybe I should get mine pierced, too. That way we match."

"How troublesome." Shikamaru muttered but Chouji and I both grinned, seeing the barest outlines of a smile.

"Do you really want to, Shiori?" Chouji asked, "tou-san said it'll hurt."

I shrugged, still grinning, "How bad can it be."

Shikamaru sighed, "This is why girls are..."

I punched him lightly on the arm, "meanie."

He rubbed his arm and gave me a lazy glare, "troublesome." He gave up glaring at me after a second and handed me a present.

My eyes widened, but I tore it open. It was a book: "Basic Shogi Strategies."

At my inquisitive look he explained, "You're a terrible shogi player." Before I could complain he added, "But you have potential."

I smiled, "thanks."

Next Chouji handed me his present. His was also a book: "easy recipes for the budding chef."

"I didn't know what else to get." He said, looking at his feet.

I pulled him into a hug, "I love it." As I pulled away I saw a reddish hue to his cheeks.

It was a good ending to a party with a rocky start, and I was happy to think I was just overreacting about what was going on between jii-chan and Asuma-nii. That was, until Asuma was leaving. "I did what you asked, tou-san, but I'm not staying any longer." I snuck over to the door to see what was going on only to see Asuma-nii glowering at Jii-chan. "So that's it? I'm your only living son and you're not even going to say goodbye?" At Jii-chan's responding silence Asuma-nii snarled and left, slamming the door behind him.

I flinched and made my way to Jii-chan, "where's Asuma-nii going?" I asked.

Jii-chan sighed and answered without looking at me, "somewhere far from here."

Tears built in my eyes, "is he coming back?"

"I hope so." Jii-chan turned to look at me and smiled. "Enough of that though. Why don't you show me what your friends gave you?"

I showed Jii-chan the books, but it was absent-minded. I had known that Asuma left before the start of the storyline, but I hadn't thought about it in so long. Part of me was hoping he'd stay, at least until I got into the academy. "Ne, jii-chan."

"What is it Shiori?"

"I'm tired. Can I show you my presents later?"

He smiled, halfheartedly. "Yes." He said though both of us knew it could be a month before he had time enough away from his office to have a proper conversation with me.

I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "night, jii-chan."

"Good night, Shiori."

Jii-chan was gone by the time I woke up, and my morning routine with Ebisu began again. I was reciting the sixth iron shinobi rule when Manabu popped in. "Yo!"

"Manabu-nii!"

"Honorable granddaughter!" Ebisu chastised when I jumped into Manabu's arms. "Hanging with riffraff like this will be detrimental to your progress toward being 'the best ninja ever.'"

I stuck my tongue out at him before turning back to mama's former student, "let's go!"

He whisked me away to a restaurant with a grin on his face. "Order whatever you want Shiori-chan."

I studied the menu before ordering shrimp. "What are we doing today Manabu-nii?"

"Hmmm," he hummed. "I missed your party so I figured we'd stop by the toy store and pick something up, then we'll do whatever you want."

I nodded, "was your mission fun?"

He laughed, "I wouldn't say that. I just couldn't wait to get back to see your five-year-old face."

I giggled when he pinched my cheeks. "Stop it!"

He smiled and put his hand back in his lap when the waitress came with our food. "So, how was your party?"

"It was lots of fun! My friends came and got me these super cool books! I've been wanting to cook for a while and Chouji got me a cookbook to learn with! Plus, Shikamaru got me a shogi book..." As I mentioned shogi I remembered Asuma and the big fight he had with Jii-chan.

"What's wrong?" Manabu asked, easily picking up on the mood.

"Asuma-nii said he's leaving, and I don't know if he's coming back."

He frowned, "did he go on a long mission?"

I shook my head, "I think he hates Jii-chan."

"I'm sured that's not true." Manabu said, but noticing my frown deepen he changed subject, "are you done eating?"

I pushed my plate away and nodded.

"Good." He placed money on the table and stood up. "Then, as promised, let's go to the toy store."

I'll admit I wasn't as interested in typical toys as I used to be. My rabbit collection had been going strong, but that was something I created with Asuma and it didn't seem as important with him gone. When I had originally picked out more rubber kunai Manabu gave me a look that said "choose a real present." I sighed, but after plenty of bickering between Manabu and me, I left the store with a stuffed frog and a smile on my face.

"Now what do you wanna do?" Manabu asked good-naturedly.

I mulled over a few options in my brain before I answered, "let's play ninja!"

Perhaps a childish option, but Manabu was the best person to play ninja with. See, the game ninja didn't have set rules. The only point is that you're supposed to be ninja, so before you start the game you come up with a mission you're supposed to accomplish while the other team works against you. In most cases, children my age turned into a sort of tag where one team is essentially ANBU while the other team is nuke-nin. Manabu had a way of coming up with simple missions that took hours to complete therefore entertaining me for hours.

"Hmmm, alright. See that cat there?" He pointed to a stray and I nodded. "That is the daimyo. Your mission is to protect him while I'm an enemy ninja sent to assassinate him, got it?" I nodded again. "Good, I'll give you a one minute head start, then I'll start attacking."

As soon as Manabu began counting I darted over to the cat. The moment he saw me he hissed and I flinched back for a moment. I glanced behind me to see Manabu's reaction and saw a smirk. I grunted in frustration before turning back to where the cat was only to see empty space. I grumbled before hunting for where "the daimyo" went.

I managed to find him just before the time limit was up and almost immediately I had to deflect incoming cardboard shuriken. I missed most of them, and some of them hit me, but the cat was unharmed. I breathed a sigh of relief before realizing that the projectiles had frightened the cat and I had to, once again, track him down.

Manabu attempted many more strategies, ranging from sneak attacks to open confrontation, before the day was up. I had no doubt that he was going easy on me, just like Iruka when he was my babysitter, but I didn't think about it much. Manabu always knew just how much effort to put in to keep me working, but also so I wouldn't be crushed.

I was exhausted by days end to the point where Manabu gave me a piggyback ride home. "Honorable granddaughter!" Ebisu exclaimed. "What have you been doing all day to get into this state?"

"Becoming the best ninja ever." I half-heartedly explained. I ignored the shocked look on his face as I went to take a shower before getting ready for bed.

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><p><strong>AN: Tada! My first canon scene. Some of you expressed interest in her and Shikamaru becoming friends so I thought I'd add some more of that in here. Of course the two of them will remain constant characters throughout the fic, too :) Now on to the reviews!<strong>

**Tachzaruu: I hope my pacing has remained on point :) I try to keep your reviews in mind as I write. This chapter had more dialogue which actually made things a bit difficult with wanting to keep everyone in character, but I hope it turned out alright. And yes, her mother's death was definitely very sad and it will affect (effect?) her in little ways throughout the story, but I'm also gonna be careful not to turn her into an Uchiha with grief. I hope you liked her little interaction with Konohamaru. He'll be playing a larger part in the story as he grows older. I like having her as a cloud-watching companion with Shikamaru, but he's a difficult character to write. Plus, she'll be holding up most of the conversation so it's a bit difficult to start conversations at time. Then again, she's a bit talkative so it'll probably work out**

**Guest: Yup, Shikamaru is her first real friend. Of course now she has Chouji and Manabu, but Manabu is more of an older brother type. I'm glad you liked how I wrote the mother's death. I was a bit worried about how people would see it.**

**Kiyomi Shizuru: I'm so glad you like Shiori, and even more so that you think the fic is well written. I do hope I can continue to hold to that standard :)**

**Kotama: Yay for characterzation! That's always the most difficult part. Especially as more characters come into play. I hope you enjoyed the bit with little Konohamaru. He will, of course, continue to pop up throughout the fic.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I wanted to get this chapter out much earlier, but urgh, my mum got me sick. Anyway, hope you like it.**

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><p>The academy. I was wracked with nerves the night before my first day and couldn't sleep. When Jii-chan came in to wake me up I was reading one of my old children's books ("The Slug Princess") just to try to calm myself down. It didn't work, and when we walked out the door it was all I could do not to rush past Jii-chan and arrive at the academy much earlier than I needed to. Instead, I gripped tightly to his hand to keep myself grounded.<p>

When we took a detour to a rundown apartment building I blurted out, "what are we doing here?"

Jii-chan only answered with a chuckle and a knock on the door. No sooner had his knuckles left the door did a spiky-haired blond boy with blue eyes come barreling out. "Jii-chan!" He exclaimed. I was taken aback at first by the boy's affectionate attitude toward Jii-chan, then by who he was.

I had nearly forgotten about the anime I had been reborn into. I slowly convinced myself that I was "Shiori of Konoha". The sudden appearance of Naruto, even if he was only a miniature Naruto at this point, reminded me of my past life with blinding clarity.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, presumably, he was tired of my staring.

"Shiori," I answered, and a childish part of me added, "this is my jii-chan."

Jii-chan laughed, "now now Shiori. I want you and Naruto to get along. After all, you two are in the same class."

Naruto scrunched up his nose, "in a class with her? Do I have to Jii-chan."

I crossed my arms, "what? C'mon, I'm awesome!"

Naruto scoffed, "well I'm gonna be hokage someday!"

I nodded, "fine, but I'll be your advisor and you'll have to listen to everything I say?"

"What?" Naruto screwed up his face, "the hokage doesn't have to listen to anyone!"

"Jii-chan?" I looked up at him, "can you really do anything?"

"My decisions are based on the well-being of the village." I furrowed my eyebrows. What did that mean? "In any case, it's time to head toward the academy."

Naruto was walking on the opposite side of jii-chan from me but he kept shooting me strange glances behind the old man's back. "What is it?" I finally asked.

"You're weird."

"So are you!" I spluttered in an attempt to defend myself.

"Am not!" He shouted back.

"Are to!"

We continued this shouting match all the way until we got to the academy. Even then it was Shikamaru who came by and said, "Troublesome girl. How can you be loud so early in the morning?"

"He started it." I said, pointing an accusing finger at Naruto.

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!" I covered my ears, "lalala, can't hear you." I chanted as I stomped through the academy doors, leaving both Naruto and Shikamaru behind me.

It was only after I was alone that I realized I had no idea where my class was. I peeked back outside, "Shikamaru?" I said in a voice much quieter than my usual.

"What?" He drawled.

"Do you know where class 3 is?"

"Troublesome girl." He muttered, but he came and grabbed hold of my hand, "c'mon."

The moment we entered the class I scanned the room. "Chouji!" I called seeing him sitting around the center of the room. Then I dragged Shikamaru rather than the other way around.

Chouji grinned upon seeing us. "Hey, guys. Did you two come together?"

I shook my head, "nope."

"She got lost." Shikamaru drawled.

"Don't tell people!" I whined.

"Why can't I tell Chouji?" He asked. "He already knows how troublesome you are."

I huffed and slumped into my seat, "meanie."

Chouji pat my back, "it's alright."

Our conversations was interrupted when our teacher walked in the door. "Iruka-nii!" I blurted out before covering my mouth.

Iruka seemed surprised to see me but he smiled. "Hi, Shiori. Mind if I introduce myself." I nodded, not daring to uncover my mouth. He chuckled, "Hello class 3. I'm Umino Iruka and I'll be your instructor for the next few years. We're going to have a get-to-know you activity, but does anyone have any questions before we start?"

A boy's hand shot up and Iruka nodded to him, "if you're Shiori's brother does that mean you're the hokage's grandson."

"No, Shiori-chan and I aren't related. I only babysat her when she was a genin."

Another hand, a girl's, came up next, "if you were a ninja why were you babysitting?"

"Every ninja starts with D-ranks. Babysitting is one such mission."

"But that's not a mission!"

"Raise your hand, Naruto."

"Did you babysit Naruto, too?" Another voice blurted.

Soon everybody was talking over each other and the only thing I could understand was Shikamaru's drawl of, "how troublesome." While Iruka attempted to reign the class back in.

"Chip?" Chouji offered.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Who was that kid with you earlier?" Shikamaru asked

"Naruto." I answered. "He's an idiot, and he called me weird."

I heard Shikamaru mumble. I wasn't sure what he said, but it made Chouji snort.

"What?"

"Nothing." Shikamaru waved me off as Iruka finally managed to get the class to calm down.

"Alright, now listen while I put you in groups!" He commanded with a voice of authority I'd never heard from him.

My group included Naruto, Shino, and a few students that weren't in the anime. "Now," Iruka called once we were all with our groups. "Each of you are going to say your names then you will take turns answering questions from your group mate. Each of you will have to ask everyone in your group one question. You better remember because you'll have to introduce one of your group members later."

"I'm Shiori!" I spoke up first.

A boy asked me a question first, "what's it like being the hokage's granddaughter?"

I shrugged, "pretty boring. He gave me this private tutor who-"

"You have a private tutor?" Interrupted the only other girl in the group.

Shino spoke up, "of course she has a private tutor. Why? Because-"

"Do you know all sorts of ninjutsu?" Interrupted the other unknown boy."

I shook my head, "but I can make a leaf stick to my finger."

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed. "Can you teach me to do that?"

"Me too!" Shouted the first unknown boy.

"And me!" Shouted the other boy and the unknown girl.

"Eh?" I questioned. "But we're going to learn it in class anyway. Besides, you have to find your chakra first."

"Awww," chorused the kids.

"Everybody else should introduce themselves." Shino said, "why? Because that is the assignment."

"But not everybody has asked me a question." I said. "Don't you have any questions?"

"What do you like to do in your freetime?"

"Oh, that's an easy one. I like to watch clouds with Shikamaru and Chouji."

"That's boring." Naruto said.

"Nuh-uh." I protested. "I've found a monkey for me and a butterfly for Chouji. I still need to find a deer for Shikamaru."

Shino nodded, "that makes sense. Why? Because your friends given names mean butterfly and deer and your clan name means monkey."

"Yeah!" I cheered. "See Naruto? You're just an idiot."

"Am not! You two are just weird."

"Are not!"

"Are to!"

"Are not!"

"You should stop fighting. Why? Because Iruka-sensei is heading this way."

We both clammed up nearly immediately, but Naruto added a quick whisper of, "are to."

I glared at him but then pointed to Shino. "You. Introduce yourself."

"I'm Shino."

"What's your favorite food?"

"Salad."

I crinkled my nose, "ew."

Naruto leaned over to me, "told you he was weird."

I nodded my head then nudged him, "your turn to ask a question."

"Uhhh," Naruto voiced. "What kind of food don't you like?" he asked dumbly

"Anything with a strong smell. Why? Because it will disturb my insects."

"Your insects?" The girl squeaked.

Shino nodded and held out his hand. I watched curiously as a small bug crawled onto it. "Can I hold him?"

"You wanna hold it?" The guy beside me said as he pushed his chair further away.

Shino didn't say anything but the bug flew onto my hand and I giggled, "his little legs tickle."

"C-can you put that thing back?" the girl squeaked again.

Shino nodded silently and the bug flew back into his sleeve. The girl visibly sighed in relief. "Any other questions for Shino?" I piped up. When everybody shook their head I turned to Naruto. "You're turn."

"Hey, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be the next hokage!"

"How can you be the next hokage?" the boy next to me asked. "You're just a kid?"

"Yeah." The girl agreed. "The third will probably die before you graduate."

I turned to glare at her, "he will not!"

"Sorry." She said, sinking into her seat.

Naruto snickered, "he is pretty old."

My glare turned to focus on Naruto but he wasn't fazed at all. "Just you watch." I announced. "Jii-chan will live until I become jounin!" Then, since I got tired of referring to the boys as the one who sat next to me and the one across from me I pointed to the latter and said, "you! Introduce yourself."

"Junpei." He blurted out.

"Are you from a civilian family?"

He nodded, and Naruto asked, "what does that mean."

"It means he doesn't come from a clan with generations of shinobi." Shino explained. "Unlike me and Shiori-san."

Naruto nodded then raised his hand, "my turn! What's your favorite restaurant?"

"Uhhhh, the BBQ place?" It came out as more a question than answer.

"Oooh, that place is great." I blurted at the time as Naruto spoke.

"That's not nearly as good as ramen."

"What's so good about ramen?" I asked. "Its just noodles and broth?"

"Oh yeah? While BBQ is just cooked meat." he countered."

"Well I can cook my own BBQ just the way I like it. And I can tease Shikamaru for being too lazy to cook his." Naruto quieted down and his face took a sad turn. I didn't understand why until I realized that I had just talked like ramen was food for people who had no friends. "But I guess ramen isn't too bad. You don't have to worry about Chouji stealing the last bite at least."

Naruto perked up, "ha! Told you ramen is the best."

"You tricked me!" I accused.

He grinned foxily, "who's the idiot now?"

"I can still use chakra and you can't." I boasted.

"That doesn't count." Naruto said. "You have a private teacher, or whatever you called him."

"I could do it before Jii-chan's hired him. Manabu-nii taught me."

"Who's that?" The girl perked up.

"My super awesome chunin friend."

"You're friends with a chunin?" Junpei marveled.

I stuck my nose up snootily, "a super awesome chunin."

"That's so cool!" The other boy said.

"We've gotten sidetracked again." Shino commented.

I looked at Shino, "you're so serious. But if you're so concerned." I pointed the boy I had yet to know the name of, "your turn."

"Hi, I'm Kei." He said quieter than he was earlier.

"Favorite animal?" I asked quickly.

"Uh, dogs, I guess."

I nodded and Naruto spoke next, "oh, I got one, do you have a hobby?"

"I like to bake." Kei said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Really?" I asked. "You should totally make me cookies tomorrow!"

Kei perked up for a second before Junpei spoke, "what? But a boy baking is totally lame."

"Oh yeah?" I countered. "And what's your hobby?"

"I go on business trips with my dad all the time."

I scoffed, "that's not a hobby. At least Kei's is something he does. And it's actually useful." I turned back to Kei with a smile on my face. "Please make me cookies?"

"Okay!" He said, returning my smile.

"Oh!" I said suddenly realizing something. "Make enough for my friends too. Then you can join us at lunch. Just make sure you make double for Chouji. Although Shikamaru will probably give him his anyway."

"I can really eat with you guys? But you're all clan kids."

I waved his concerns off, "nobody actually cares about that stuff. Well, except the Hyuuga and Uchiha, but they're lame-brains." I turned to the girl, "looks like you're finishing us off."

"I'm Ran."

For once I wasn't the first to ask a question. "What's your favorite dessert?" Blurted Junpei, who seemed proud that he asked a question nobody else had.

"I like Mitarashi Dango from the dango shop." She answered easily.

I held back a snicker thinking about the pun of Anko's name. "Do you have any siblings?" I asked, in an attempt to hide the strange face I was making.

She shook her head, "not yet, but kaa-san's pregnant. She says it's a girl."

"You're gonna love her." I said. "Babies are the cutest things in the world."

Ran frowned, "my friend says their annoying because her parents won't stop fussing over her little brother. She says they barely noticed when she got the best in her class in civilian school!"

I frowned, "I dunno. My parents have never even met my brother."

Ran furrowed her eyebrows, "what does that mean?"

"Ah, they died when he was born."

She gasped, "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine." I forced a smile, "see? I'm all better now!"

Naruto looked at me strangely but didn't say anything.

"Alright class!" Iruka called over the chatter. "You have an hour long recess. You will be introducing your classmates when you come back. If you didn't finish the assignment you can finish during your recess."

"C'mon Kei." I beckoned with a smile. Then I turned to Naruto, "I guess, if you want to, you can come to. Jii-chan said he wanted us to get along, and at least Chouji will like you."

Naruto grumbled but came along with me anyway.

Most of the students meandered outside for our break, but our group remained in the classroom. Mostly just because Shikamaru was too lazy to move. "Troublesome girl. I knew you'd manage to collect more noisy people."

"He's always like that." I assured Naruto and Kei. "He doesn't mean anything by it."

He grumbled something under his breath but Chouji was eager to greet these new friends. "Ne, Chouji, Kei likes to bake. He's making us cookies tomorrow."

"Really?" Chouji asked looking at said boy.

Kei blushed, "I'm still a beginner, but I'll try." Chouji grinned.

I left the two of them on their own to discuss the intricacies of food while I nudged Shikamaru. "Let's play Shogi. I've gotten better, I promise."

He mumbled something incoherent again but sat up while I pulled out the travel shogi board that I had taken to carrying around with me."

Naruto looked curiously over my shoulder as we arranged the pieces, so I began explaining the game to him. He was obviously confused, but Naruto never learned anything through explanation anyway. "Just watch, and pay attention to how the pieces move." I said.

He did as I directed but quickly got bored and meandered over to Chouji and Kei instead. To me, the game had barely started when Shikamaru drawled "checkmate."

"You could at least go a little easy on me." I whined.

"You said you got better." He said with a shrug.

"Better." I emphasized. "I never said I was as good as you."

He shrugged again, "holding back is troublesome."

"Let's play again!" I challenged, my competitive spirit getting the better of me.

"Troublesome girl." He muttered but began setting up his side of the board.

Two more humiliating defeats later and class was resumed.

Shikamaru and Chouji were in the same group as Ino and watching Ino introduce Shikamaru was amusing. "This is Shikamaru." She announced loudly, pointing to where the boy was slouching next to her. "He's lazy and all he likes to do is watch clouds and play some boring game called Shoji."

"Shogi." He corrected her.

"Whatever." She said and turned to Iruka. "I'm done introducing him sensei."

Shikamaru ended up introducing Chouji. " its troublesome introducing him in front of class, but this is Chouji. All you need to know is that he's really nice unless you steal the last bite of food." He didn't even bother to tell Iruka he was finished or stand with the rest of his group members. He just lazily strolled back to his desk and slept.

Chouji introduced some other girl but I didn't pay attention. I only really cared about how people would treat my two best friends.

When it was finally my turn I skipped to the front of the room. "This is Kei. He's pretty nice and he loves baking. He's gonna be my friend from now on so don't be mean, okay?"

Next, Naruto introduced me. "This is Shiori. Apparently she's the hokage's granddaughter or something but that doesn't mean anything to me. She's kind of annoying but she isn't mean so I guess she's okay. Even if she thinks cloud watching is fun."

Kei introduced Ran. "Umm, so this Ran. She's gonna have a little sister soon and I think she'll be a great big sister." I giggled at the blush on both hers and Kei's face. "Uh, her favorite dessert is Mitarashi Dango from the Dango shop. I hope you all get along with her." The last sentence came out almost like a squeak but I thought it was adorable so I didn't say anything.

Junpei introduced Naruto. "This guy," he pointed to Naruto. "Is Naruto. He likes ramen, and I think he likes Shiori because he reacts to everything she says."

"I do not!" Naruto shouted at the same time as I said, "what?"

Junpei grinned, "see? Even reacts to her name. Anyway, he wants to be hokage some day." He shrugged.

That was apparently the end of the introduction that would have rumors spreading for months. If I hadn't known how lonely Naruto would be I probably would have stopped eating lunch with him just so I didn't have to deal with children snickering and making kissy faces at us.

"Naruto and Shiori sittin' in tree!" They sang as they skipped past us.

"They're idiots." Shikamaru said as he clacked a shogi piece into position.

"They're annoying." I grumbled as I searched for a good move.

"First comes love. Then comes marriage!"

"And distracting!" I said before just moving a piece randomly.

Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow, "that was stupid."

I flopped to the ground, "I give up."

"Don't worry about." Chouji said as he began cleaning up the pieces for me and Shikamaru. "They'll give up eventually."

I smirked at him, "we could pretend we're dating to throw 'em off."

"What?" Chouji said, blushing. "That's a terrible idea!"

I cackled, "don't worry Chouji. I just wanted to see your reaction." I laid back down to watch the clouds knowing Shikamaru and Chouji were doing the same thing.

"That's just mean." Chouji grumbled.

"Mnn." I acknowledged, then gasped, "I found one! A deer in the clouds!"

I think I faintly heard Shikamaru snickering next to me, but I was too giddy over my accomplishment to care.

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><p><strong>AN: I'm not a big fan of writing dialogue. In my opinion being able to write dialogue and keep characters, well, <em>in character<em> is the mark of a truly great author. I can say a character is like something all I want, but if they don't talk like they think then it's just empty words. I hope you all enjoyed her interactions with Naruto. She may know how great he is, but she still acts like a 6 year old. Anyway, onto the reviews :)**

**Midoll123: I'm glad you like it. She will have interactions with Into, but I think she's better suited to the less forceful duo of Shikamaru and Chouji. Plus, they weren't particularly friends with her until they were on the same team anyway. Maybe in the future, with team matchups and such, Shiori'll get closer to Into.**

**Guest who compared my story to DOS: I can't begin to describe how happy you made me. DOS is definitely one of the inspirations for this and some of her interpretations of Shika definitely make their way into this story so _THANK YOU_**

**xenocanaan: glad you're enjoying it so far :)**

**Guest who called it cute: definitely continuing and thanks for the review :)**

**The Almighty Pyro: I adore little Chouji, so soft spoken and nice. She won't be that much older when he returns because he has to come back in time to become sensei to Ino-Shika-Cho and she'll only be 12 then.**

**Guest who was glad she wasn't MarySue: I'm glad I could be a pleasant surprise. I think I am steadily improving thankfully. (I shudder sometimes at the Mary Sueness of A New Life, my other fix that I've decided not to continue.) Hope you enjoyed this update.**

**Innoquous: hope you are continuing to enjoy Shiori.**

**Some of you confused me by reviewing chapter 1, I do hope you guys realized there was more and just decided to review from the first chapter for some reason *shrug***

**And for those who only favorited/followed: thanks for the continued support :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: So sorry, I'm super late. A lot of things have been happening in real life, but now they're mostly resolved so my updates should come out faster again :) And Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.**

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><p>Rain was rare in Konoha. That was one of the many reasons we were called the Fire Country. As I watched the rain running down the academy windows I couldn't help being reminded the last time I saw that sight. It rained the day Konohamaru was born which would have been a happy memory had it not been the day mama died, and the time before that when a ninja had presented me with papa's blue scarf that I wore wound around my neck so many times that it was hard to see, and even then it hung almost to the ground. Shikamaru absently placed a hand on my shoulder and I grasped it thankfully. Even at his age he could tell that rain put me on edge.<p>

"Ne, Chouji." Naruto called. "Wanna go splash in the puddles?"

He smiled good-naturedly, "Nah Naruto. Kei probably will though."

Kei and Naruto actually got on fantastically. I had thought maybe Kei would be apprehensive due to the adults' treatment of Naruto, but while there had been a minor incident we had pushed through it. Kei's parents didn't even know why people hated Naruto as it was an S-class secret, and civilians weren't in the loop unless they had connections that Kei's parents certainly didn't. When they saw the hokage's granddaughter around Naruto they apparently deemed him as not entirely evil. They were more interested in Kei making a political ally than whatever adults were whispering about around a blond six-year-old.

I breathed a visible sigh of relief when the rain sputtered out and died. "Did you wanna come over to my house after school, Shiori-chan?" Chouji offered.

I shook my head, "I promised Konohamaru I'd play with him today." At two years old Konohamaru had reached the age where he followed me around like a duckling. Still, I thought it was adorable when he lost me and began to shout "nee-chan!" until I came back.

When I returned from the academy that day I discovered that Konohamaru fell asleep waiting for me. I smiled affectionately at his snoring figure and sat beside him to begin my homework. I was almost finished by the time he blearily wiped his eyes and mumbled "nee-chan?"

"Hey, sleepy-head." I greeted and ruffled his hair.

"Why didn' you wake me?" He asked then yawned.

"Because you're so cute when you're sleeping." I teased. "Plus I have to do my homework. Wait a bit, then I'll take you to the park like I promised." My homework was easy, just simple math problems I had long since learned to solve. It just took a while because of the sheer number of problems Iruka had assigned.

I held Konohamaru's hand firmly as we walked to the park. If I hadn't he was sure to stray toward the mud and get his clothes dirty and I didn't feel like washing that out. Along the way a few older people greeted us with smiles. "Honorable grandchildren. I hadn't realized you were so grown up you could go places on your own!"

"That's 'cause I'm amazing." I informed them dutifully while Konohamaru just smiled at the attention he was getting.

They nodded with smiles still plastered on their faces, "well, have fun. And be careful."

I waved goodbye to them before continuing to the park. I hadn't anticipated rain and I didn't think about the fact that everything in the park was now slippery and wet. Konohamaru wanted to swing but the seat had collected a puddle of water. I pondered what I could do to dry the seat the rest of the way and clutched the scarf that was a moment of papa. I didn't want to get it dirty. I hardly washed it as it was because it still had the faint scent that I associated with him. I had noticed that Asuma-nii had a similar smell underneath the smoke, but there was something about papa that was uniquely _his._

"Nee-chan!" Konohamaru whined and tugged at my arm.

I smiled and decided just to use my sleeve to mop up the water that remained. Konohamaru's pants would still get wet for sure, but I doubted he cared. I was the one who had to do the laundry anyway.

There were no toddler swings in Konoha so I didn't push him in the normal sense. Even if it hadn't been wet and slippery so he could easily lose his grip I would have stood beside and held onto him as I sort of rocked the swing back and forth. It was made slightly more difficult when he bounced in the way toddlers do, shaking the whole swing.

"Shiori?" I turned at the sight of Kei's voice.

"Hey!" I waved him over.

"So this is your little brother."

"Mhm." I lifted Konohamaru off the swing with a measure of difficulty. "Konohamaru, Kei. Kei, Konohamaru."

"Nice to meet you." Kei said and pulled out a cookie. He had gotten into the habit of carrying them around since he began hanging out with us, mainly because of Chouji."

Konohamaru accepted the cookie gleefully, "thanks nii-san."

"Now he's going to like you more than me." I whined playfully.

"Oh, uh, sorry?" Kei could never quite grasp when someone was teasing him.

"I'm just playing with with you, silly." I had been about to say something else when I heard teeth chattering. "Konohamaru? Are you cold?"

"Yes." He said. I moved to pull off my jacket. "I don't wanna wear your clothes." He whined. "They're always too big."

I sighed. It was true they were big on him. If I were to put him in my jacket it would drag on the ground and the mud would make it difficult to wash.

"Um, I have an idea." Kei spoke up and pulled off his own jacket. I frowned, true, he was shorter than me, but not by much. Understanding dawned on me when he tied it around Konohamaru's neck like a cape.

I slapped my hand to my forehead, "why didn't I think of that?"

Kei grinned, "I used to do this with my blanket when I was a kid. I didn't like having to hold it."

"Ne, Kei. I was just about to take Konohamaru for some BBQ. Wanna come with?"

"Sure."

Unsurprisingly, I saw Chouji there. I had planned to leave him alone because he was sitting with his family but his dad amiably waved me over, recognizing me from the day I met Chouji on the roof.

"Hey Chouji." I greeted him with a smile.

He smiled back, "hi guys." Chouji must have seen the uncomfortable look on Kei's face because he turned to his dad, "mind if I sit with my friends, tou-san? There's not a lot of room here."

"Go ahead." His dad said with a wave and Kei released a visible sigh of relief when we moved to our own table.

"What's Konohamaru wearing?" Chouji asked.

"Oh, I completely forgot. konohamaru, you can give the jacket back to Kei nowthat we're indoors."

He frowned, "but I don't want to."

"It's not your jacket, otouto."

Konohamaru hugged the jacket closer to him and stared at me with pitiful puppy eyes.

I stared back at him without blinking so he would know I wasn't taking his nonsense.

"He can keep it." Kei offered, probably as a way to ease the tension.

"No. Don't encourage him."

"But nee-chan." He whined. "Kei-nii said I could have it."

I shrugged, "Kei isn't your nee-chan. I'm in charge."

He pouted but slowly pulled the jacket off. "Ebisu-sensei would have let me keep it."

"Ebisu's an idiot." I said and crossed my arms and unconsciously pushed my lower lip out. Next to me Chouji chuckled and whispered something into Kei's ear. When he laughed I asked, "What am I missing?"

"Nothing." Kei and Chouji said at the same time.

I narrowed my eyes, "I don't believe you."

"Meat's here!" Chouji deflected, and began to cook the meat. I don't know how he did it but Chouji always made the best BBQ. He always told me I was too cautious and flipped the meat too often but I was always afraid I would burn it otherwise.

"Ne, Kei." I prompted.

"Hmn?"

"Wanna come over and bake next week?" I asked. "Ebisu's gonna be gone and I wanna throw a wild party and trash the house to freak him out."

His eyes widened, "I think you've been spending too much time with Naruto."

I crossed my arms, "Have not. I just think that Iruka's hilarious when he's trying to suck up to Jii-chan. Besides, you haven't answered my question yet." When he didn't answer right away I questioned again, "Will bake for me or not?"

He sighed, "Well I can't exactly so no, can I? I'll be there, just tell me when."

"Thanks!" I cheered then turned to Chouji. "And you'll help me cook right? I can make most of the recipes in the cookbook you gave me pretty easy, but they're not really party foods."

Chouji grinned, "I'd love to help. I'll drag Shikamaru along, too."

I snickered, "He'll appreciate that I'm sure."

Kei narrowed his eyes and glanced from Chouji to me, "You guys are evil."

"Who me?" I asked innocently. He rolled his eyes and cackled in response. Once I started Konohamaru immediately joined in, despite the fact that I'm pretty sure he had no idea why I was laughing.

When we left the BBQ place I was so glad to see the sun. "It feels warmer." I commented.

I had just closed my eyes to bask in the sunshine when Chouji spoke, "want me to walk you home? I'm sure tou-san wouldn't mind."

I shook my head, "Nah, I have to go grocery shopping." Technically that was part of Ebisu's job, but he was always so worried about health that I had to go buy junk food on my own. "That reminds me. Kei, is there anything specific I need to grab for baking?"

"Er, sugar, flour, eggs…" He trailed off. "You know what? I'll bring a list to school with me tomorrow."

"Thanks." I chirped and left, dragging Konohamaru behind me.

Because I wasn't technically supposed to be grocery shopping Jii-chan didn't really give me enough allowance to spend on the task. That's why, although I said grocery shopping, it really was more for buying snacks than anything. I started off with getting the ingredients Kei specified. I knew he would give me a list later, but there was no harm in getting a head-start. Then I went for the cup ramen. I didn't have a preference to them one way or the other, but if Naruto was coming they were practically a necessity.

I had just been about to head home when Konohamaru tugged on my sleeve, "nee-chan."

"Mmn." I hummed absent-mindedly.

"Chocolate banana?" he pronounced carefully pointing at the dango shop.

I smiled. The two of us had discovered that while the dango shop mostly sold, well, dango, it also had other sweets on its menu, including chocolate covered bananas, Konohamaru's favorite food. "Sure, otouto." I said and ruffled his hair.

"Mitarashi dango and chocolate covered bananas." I ordered from the server as he came by. "And green tea with both." I had first ordered Mitarashi dango because Anko's last name amused me, but I had ended up falling in love with them.

We finally went home after enjoying our snack, and I managed to get Konohamaru ready for bed before Ebisu-sensei began pestering me about training. I humored him and went through my katas before moving on to forming each of the hand-signs carefully. The next part, reciting the iron shinobi rules, went much slower. I was never particularly good at memorizing blocks of text, especially not when I had to associate them with a certain number. Ebisu-sensei refused to let me sleep until I remembered all of them up to number twenty-five and by then I had a migraine.

The next morning was exciting. Iruka had told us that we would finally be starting training spars and I couldn't wait to show off. I listened intently as he began naming the pairs. It quickly became obvious that he was matching civilians with civilians and clan kids with other clan kids.

I squared off against Hinata. She seemed so delicate with her pale skin and pink cheeks. After exchanging the seal of confrontation I shifted into the Sarutobi family stance as she positioned herself like a Hyuuga, but she didn't activate the Byakkugan whether or not that was because she wasn't allowed to or because she couldn't I didn't know.

Anxious to get started, I charged in for the first blow. She easily dodged and her palm came after my stomach so I lurched backward. I reassessed her, she wasn't as weak as I expected her to be. This time I came forward faster and my fist came harder. She deflected it with her palm, but I twisted my wrist to grab her arm and used my other hand to punch her hard in the gut. While she struggled to breath I got her on the ground, held her arms pinned to the ground with my knees, and raised my fist above her face to show victory. When Iruka announced my victory I helped her up and held out two fingers. She took them just as Iruka taught us to for the seal of friendship and I smiled at her, "good job, Hinata."

She blushed and I could just barely hear, "y-you, too."

Once we rejoined the boys I asked the boys how they did. "Chouji and Shikamaru didn't even fight." Naruto grumbled. "It was totally lame."

I looked at Shikamaru, "You guys didn't fight?"

He shrugged, "Iruka-sensei put Chouji and me against eachother. It was too troublesome so we didn't fight."

"See?" Naruto said. "Lame."

"Oh, Naruto." I teased. "That's not lame. It's _adorable_."

Shikamaru flushed, "Oi, troublesome girl. Don't call a boy adorable."

"Aww," I whined. "But Kei knows he's adorable, right?" I asked, pouting at Kei.

"Uh, um." He stammered.

I cackled, "See? Adorable."

Naruto joined I with me, "they _are _adorable aren't they."

"You're more troublesome than my mother." Shikamaru muttered.

"You know you love me." I said to him. Then I turned to Kei, "Ne, did you bring me that shopping list?"

"Oh, yeah, here."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

I grinned, "I'm having a wild party this weekend to freak Ebisu-sensei out. You're the messiest so you _have _to come."

Naruto frowned, "but doesn't Ebisu hate me already?"

"Oh, he won't even be there. Besides, the whole point is to get him angry so what do you care about what he thinks of you?"

"Yeah." Naruto agreed, but not in his usual confident way.

I decided to ignore his less-than-stellar attitude, "Ne, Shikamaru, Chouji said he's dragging you there early to help with the setup." I teased.

"Shiori." Chouji chastised, "Now that he knows what's going on it'll be harder to get him there."

I crossed my arms and pouted at Shikamaru, "You'll come won't you? It'll be so boring without you."

"Sounds troublesome."

"But Shikamaru." I whined, "You're my best friend. You _have _to come."

"How did _I _get the position of best friend? I would've thought Naruto or Kei filled that position."

I scoffed, "No way. Naruto's annoying and Kei…" I considered why he wasn't but couldn't find any actual faults. "Well Kei's not you. Besides, you're the only one who'll play shogi with me."

"Mmn." Shikamaru acknowledged with a hum. "Fine, I'll come for you, troublesome girl."

I grinned, "Thanks!"

Just as promised, Kei, Chouji, and Shikamaru all showed up early. As I got to work baking with Kei and Chouji began cooking less sugary snacks Shikamaru lounged on the couch.

Kei came equipped with multiple cooking books, and all of them were dog-eared too many times to count. "These are my favorites." He explained.

I grabbed them and took them to the couch. "Alright lazy, as long as you're here help out with something. What should we make?"

He grumbled about how troublesome it was but dutifully got to work scanning the dog-eared pages. As much as you could berate Shikamaru for you could always count on him, even for simple matters like choosing which baked goods would be best at a party.

Once the selections were made Kei looked over them, "in that case we should make these first. They require the oven to be at the same temperature, plus it's best for them to cool longer so we can ice them."

I nodded then showed him around the kitchen because, unlike Chouji, he'd never been there before. Kei easily delegated the easy tasks to me and got to work himself. Later, when we were cookies, I caught Kei sneak a bit of the dough and I made a face, "doesn't eating raw dough make you sick or something?"

He laughed, "You're talking about the raw egg salmonella thing?" At my nod he continued. "That's only in really rare cases. Kaa-san and I always eat a bit of the dough and we've never gotten sick. Plus it's super good. Try it."

I hesitantly took the tiny ball of cookie dough from his outstretched hand and popped in my mouth. "It's good!" I exclaimed almost instantly and he laughed again. It's strange how Kei seemed so in his element while we were baking. He was so much more confident than he was in class and it was cool.

Decorating was by far the best part of baking. Kei brought this icing bag thing with all these cool tips to decorate the cakes with. It was messy and I'm pretty sure there was more dough in my hair than on the cakes, but we managed to drag Chouji into it and I gave him a purple mustache. Plus, Shikamaru was sleeping so I gave him an icing unibrow with a full beard all out of pink. "Too bad we don't have a camera." Chouji remarked.

"I'll remember it forever anyway."

Kei nodded, "Yeah, but we can't threaten to show it to people without a picture."

"Oooh, good point."

Luckily, for us not him, Naruto arrived before he woke up so we got to see Shikamaru's full scale embarrassment when Naruto caught him with an iced face. I didn't think the party could possibly be any better after our shenanigans, but never doubt Naruto's ability to liven things up.

"Let's have a pillow fight." Naruto suggested.

"Sounds troublesome."

"No, it sounds like fun." I quickly grabbed a pillow and threw it at Kei. Everyone quickly grabbed ammunition of their own and, once the pillows ran out, they grabbed cushions from the couch. Shikmaru was adamantly staying out of the fight until a well-aimed pillow hit him in the face while he was watching a cloud and his annoyance got the best of him. We eventually had to end the brawl because the pillows had burst open and lost their stuffing. Feathers and fluff were all over the place and we were in the middle of it laughing.

When I finally caught my breath from laughing so hard a new idea came to mind, "ne, guys. These walls are all so boring and white. I say they need a paint job."

Naruto grinned mischievously. "What color were you thinking?"

"Well," I grinned back at him. "I figured we could draw a landscape." I quickly dashed to get some paints. It wasn't wall paint but it would do for our purposes.

Shikamaru worked on the ground, but that's probably because he was too lazy to stand up while he painted. I was the tallest so I set to work on painting the sky and the clouds. Naruto, Chouji, and Kei were all working on different parts of the background. Chouji drew animals and plants. Naruto drew ninjas fighting. And Kei drew the five of us, happily having a picnic.

Once the blue of my sky was finished I worked carefully on my clouds. Each of the clouds had a particular shape ranging from teapots to dragons. The five biggest clouds were the most important though. A butterfly for Chouji. A deer for Shikamaru. A toad for Naruto. A rabbit for Kei. And a monkey for me.

The end result of our landscape was messy and could barely be considered artistic, but we were all proud of it. Once we finished I had to quickly usher my friends out before Ebisu arrived and could ban them from ever coming to hang out again. Needless to say, his face was priceless.

"Honorable granddaughter? What happened here?"

"A party." I answered honestly.

"B-but. Just what? How? Who?" He stammered out those few words before rushing to Jii-chan's office.

Jii-chan arrived with Konohamaru who had spent the day with him because Jii-chan didn't deem me responsible enough to watch my two-year-old brother. "Welcome home, Jii-chan." I greeted. "I saved some cookies and cupcakes for you and Konohamaru if you want some."

Konohamaru cheered and rushed to the kitchen while Jii-chan sighed at the mess I made. "I'm sure you have some reason for all of this?"

I nodded, "Ebisu-sensei said that my friends were Neanderthals. I just wanted him to feel good about himself."

It may have been my imagination, but I think Jii-chan almost laughed before releasing and exaggerated sigh. "Well, you'll be cleaning all of this up."

Ebisu nodded, "Yes honorable granddaughter. It is important that you realize the consequences of your actions."

"Oh, yes, Ebisu. You'll help her won't you?"

Ebisu made a small squeaking noise before responding, "Of course Hokage-sama."

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><p><strong>AN: Again, I'm so sorry I made you wait so long for a chapter. Anyway, I'll probably stop replying to reviews down here, but know that I'm super happy for all your reviews. And special thanks to guest reviewer: dragonlily22. You gave me the motivation to really push through this chapter. In case anybody was interested. There'll probably be a timeskip next chapter.<strong>


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